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Romney Accuses Santorum of Playing a ‘Dirty Trick’

Yana Paskova for The New York TimesMitt Romney speaking to supporters at his campaign headquarters in Livonia, Mich., on Tuesday.

LIVONIA, Mich. – Mitt Romney on Tuesday accused his leading Republican rival, Rick Santorum, of playing a “dirty trick” by soliciting the last-minute support of Democratic voters in Michigan’s closely contested Republican primary.

“It’s outrageous to see Rick Santorum team up with the Obama people and go out after union labor in Detroit and try and get them to vote against me,” Mr. Romney said.

Mr. Santorum’s campaign on Monday night began encouraging Democrats to vote against Mr. Romney with an automated phone call denouncing Mr. Romney’s opposition to the government’s bailout of the auto industry.

The script for the telephone call, which Mr. Santorum’s campaign confirmed, says: “Romney supported the bailouts for his Wall Street billionaire buddies but opposed the auto bailouts. That was a slap in the face to every Michigan worker and we’re not going to let Romney get away with it.”

Mr. Romney, appearing on “Fox and Friends,” blasted the strategy. “Look, we don’t want Democrats deciding who our nominee is going to be. We want Republicans deciding who our nominee is going to be.”

With polls in Michigan suggesting a tight race between Mr. Romney and Mr. Santorum, the victory could be determined in part by Democrats and union workers eager to cause mischief in Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary.

Michigan has no voter registration. Voters simply request a Republican or Democratic ballot. Voting booths will be open only to Republicans, but party rules allow anyone to declare himself a Republican on the spot — temporarily — and then vote. The result is a primary that is effectively open to Democratic or independent game-playing.

And while such predictions are usually overstated, there is some indication that it might actually happen in Michigan on Tuesday.

“This is reminiscent of the dirty tricks in the past, and it’s got to end and I think Rick Santorum has a lot of explaining to do,” Mr. Romney said.

Mr. Romney himself has acknowledged strategically voting for a Democratic presidential candidate in Massachusetts, much as Mr. Santorum is encouraging Democrats to do now in Michigan.

He told ABC News that, as a registered independent, he voted for Paul Tsongas in the 1992 Democratic presidential primary, explaining, “When there was no real contest in the Republican primary, I’d vote in the Democrat primary, vote for the person who I thought would be the weakest opponent for the Republican.”

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